Middle-aged likely lads
The beloved, if troubled, Pete Doherty/carl Barat double act is back as The Libertines release their first album in a decade, writes Fiona Shepherd
POP
The Libertines: All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
Cult (anti-)heroes The Libertines return with their first album in almost a decade. Who knows where the time goes but at least the soap opera psychodrama has calmed down as the likely lads approach middle age. All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade follows Anthems For Doomed Youth with another literary nod as well as a reference to the address of the band’s Albion Rooms hotel and studio in Margate, where the album was recorded. The beloved if So Soul Records troubled Pete Doherty/carl JJJJ Barat double act are back with their ever-efficient rhythm section Gary Powell and John Hassall, all beaming from the end of the pier.
There is a touch of Damon Albarn-like nostalgia on Merry Old England, elevated with
Casablanca/republic Records JJJ
Mark Knopfler: One Deep River
British Grove/emi JJJ
Wojtek the bear: Shaking Hands with the NME
Last Night From Glasgow
JJJJ
Edy Forey: Culture Today
Wojak The Bear’s jazz guitar produces a Blue Nile-like cocktail
swirling strings and burnished guitar, but the album kicks off with the puppyish energy of Run Run Run, declamatory lead vocals of Mustang and the contrasting stylised vocals and heroic guitar solo of Have a Friend, before applying more space and less pace to Man With the Melody, a resonant indie piano ballad embellished with unsettling strings.
The rest of the album pinballs between punky pace and Anglo chanson. The Seventies power popper Oh Shit barrels along with brash Clash brio and it’s easy to get caught up in the fray of Be Young. But their theatrical tendencies are on parade too, with Doherty adopting a lounge lizard stance for the uncluttered mid-paced trot Baron’s Claw and closing with the lighterwaving indie melodrama and studio japery of Songs They Never Play on the Radio.
Mark Knopfler keeps it moving with his tenth solo album. One Deep River sustains 2018’s Down the Road Wherever, with the Tyne Bridge on the cover and in the lyrics of the autobiographical Ahead of the Game. Replete with Knopfler’s laidback storytelling, shuffling drums and melodic keening guitar, plus guests including John Mccusker and Michael Mcgoldrick adding complementary textures to a collection which also encompasses the gentle waltz of Smart Money, junkyard blues strut of Scavengers Yard, poignant balladry of Black Tie Jobs, outlaw lament of Tunnel 13 and soothing siren backing vocals of the Leonard Cohenlike title track.
Glasgow-based outfit Wojtek the Bear, fronted by songwriter Tam Killean, worked with legendary indie producer Stephen Street on their classy third album, seamlessly blending contrasting flavours such as bright brass, chiming Afrobeat guitar and weeping strings on opening single second place on purpose.
The husky croon, soothing smooth jazz guitar and
beautiful string arrangement of frank produces a Blue Nilelike cocktail which goes down smoothly, and the throwback to Glasgow’s mellow Eighties/ Nineties pop continues with sometimes you have to go left, while the droll title track imagines an alternative band history where none of the clichéd indie landmarks apply.
Edinburgh-based duo Edy Forey comprises Polishamerican singer Edy Szewy and French pianist Guilhem Forey. The pair first met as students in the city but have mined their international contacts book to produce the full soul jazz immersion of Culture Today, featuring Snarky Puppy frontman Michael League, Ezra Collective drummer Femi Koleoso, Japanese flugelhorn veteran Toku and Grammy winning producer Bob Power at the controls, with highlights including the rapturous piano soul of Better Way, the funky bass and lithe saxophone of Eerie Feary and 12-minute dreamy prog gospel climax Your Soul.